SpaceX has successfully launched its first crewed spacecraft into orbit, a huge step in the history of the company that could see them start sending humans to space as soon as later this year.

The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2.49 A.M. Eastern time today on a mission for NASA. This is the first test launch of the vehicle, known as the Demo-1 mission (DM-1), so there was no crew on board.

About eight minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket used for this flight also successfully touched down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, out in the Atlantic Ocean to wild cheers back at SpaceX headquarters.

"Today’s successful launch marks a new chapter in American excellence, getting us closer to once again flying American Astronauts on American rockets from American soil," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement. "Congratulations to the SpaceX and NASA teams for this major milestone in our nation’s history."

The spacecraft will now make its way towards the International Space Station (ISS), its ultimate destination, with docking expected tomorrow, Sunday March 3, at 6 A.M. Eastern time. It will deliver 400 pounds of cargo to the astronauts that are currently on board the ISS.

Also on board in the futuristic interior of the vehicle is a mannequin called “Ripley,” named after the lead character of the Alien movies. While Ripley is traveling alone in the spacecraft, Crew Dragon will ultimately have space for up to seven astronauts to travel inside.

The vehicle can fly autonomously, which it will do for this flight to reach the ISS. Inside, astronauts interact with the spacecraft using a variety of touch screens – a far cry from the rather more archaic buttons and panels inside Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

Crew Dragon is designed to take up to seven people into space

SpaceX

After spending five days docked to the ISS, Crew Dragon will return to Earth on Friday March 8 at 2.30 A.M. Eastern time, finally splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean at about 8.45 A.M. For SpaceX, this will represent the culmination of 17 years of hard work since the company was founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

SpaceX’s ultimate goal has always been to start sending humans into space. Musk has his eye on distant locations such as the Moon and Mars, and possibly even further into the Solar System. This would be on a new vehicle called Starship that the company is developing, capable of carrying dozens of people per launch.

Crew Dragon, however, is a step toward a more near-term goal of taking astronauts into Earth orbit, developed in partnership with NASA. The U.S. space agency has provided $2.6 billion of funding to SpaceX as part of their Crew Development Program (CCP) to develop the spacecraft, designed to bring crewed launches back to U.S. soil again.

The last American crewed launch took place in July 2011 with the final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Following that flight, NASA decided to turn over launches to Earth orbit to private companies, as it set its own sights on either returning to the Moon or traveling to Mars.

It picked two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to take up the mantle of launching astronauts from America. And while the first launches were expected as far back as 2016, delays meant we had to wait a little while to reach this historic moment.

SpaceX has one further test of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, an in-flight abort test in the coming months, before it can finally start launching humans. As soon as this summer, this once-little company might make history once again, as two NASA astronauts fly on board the spacecraft to the ISS.

Until then, it’s difficult to overstate how important today’s launch is. SpaceX has long dreamed of launching humans to space. Now with this successful DM-1 mission underway, it is closer than ever to achieving that goal.

Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the launch time as 7.49am Eastern time. The correct launch time was 2.49am Eastern time.